THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY

Reptilia    Squamata (part)    Phrynosomatidae  

Long-tailed Brush Lizard
Urosaurus graciosus Hallowell, 1854
ur-oh-SORE-us — graw-see-OH-sus

SSAR 9th Edition Comments:
 Haenel (2017, Molecular Ecology 26: 606–623) documented introgression of U. ornatus mtDNA into some sympatric populations of U. graciosus.

Range maps are based on curated specimens and provided gratis by CNAH.
(Created by Travis W. Taggart; Version: 2023.04.10.13.42.07)
Download GeoJSON polygon range file: - 1.01 MB

Province/State Distribution:
USA: Arizona California Nevada Utah

First instance(s) of published English names:
Slender Lizard (Uta graciosa: Cooper, James G. 1869. The fauna of California and its geographical distribution. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 4():61-81); Graceful Uta (Uta graciosa: Yarrow, Henry C. 1882. Check list of North American Reptilia and Batrachia with catalogue of specimens in U. S. National Museum. Bulletin of the United States National Museum (24):1-249); Long-tailed Uta (Uta graciosa: Van Denburgh, John. 1897. The reptiles of the Pacific Coast and Great Basin: An account of the species known to inhabit California, and Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Nevada. Occasional Papers of the California Academy of Sciences 5():9-236); Long-tailed Uta (Uta (Urosaurus) graciosa: Van Denburgh, John. 1922. The Reptiles of Western North America: An Account of the Species Known to Inhabit California and Oregon, Washinton, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, British Columbia, Sonora, and Lower California. Volume I. Lizards. California Academy of Sciences, San Francisco. 556pp.);

Taxon Links:

  
Catalog of American Amphibians and Reptiles
  
The Reptile Database
  
NatureServe
  
iNaturalist
  
GenBank
  
USGS - Nonindigenous Aquatic Species Database

Selected References:
1854 Hallowell, Edward. Descriptions of new reptiles from California. Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia 7:91–97
1988 Vitt, Laurie J. and Dickson, Nancy A. Urosaurus graciosus Catalogue of American Amphibians and Reptiles (448):1-3
1993 Wiens, John J. Phylogenetic systematics of the tree lizards (Genus Urosaurus). Herpetologica 49(4):399-420
2013 Lambert, Shea M. and John J. Wiens. Evolution of viviparity: A phylogenetic test of the cold-climate hypothesis in Phrynosomatid lizards. Evolution 67(9):2614–2630
2017 Bezy, Robert L., Philip C. Rosen, Thomas R. Van Devender, and Erik F. Enderson. Southern distributional limits of the Sonoran Desert herpetofauna along the mainland coast of northwestern Mexico Mesoamerican Herpetology 4(1):138-167

THE CENTER FOR NORTH AMERICAN HERPETOLOGY — Accessed: Friday 13 June 2025 05:53 CT